20 years of innovation: The CTT Story

Today's Wills & Probate Podcast

On the latest Today's Wills and Probate podcast host David Opie welcomes Clive Ponder on to discuss his journey from miner to running one of the largest estate planning businesses in the country.
CTT Group, formerly Countrywide Tax and Trust Corporation, now spans technology and software, accountancy and conveyancing alongside its estate planning business. The Group celebrates a milestone 20 year birthday in 2023 and is Headline Sponsor of The British Wills and Probate Awards.
Never short of an opinion, Clive shares his thoughts second careers, building and growing businesses, technology, regulation, and the current state of the industry. Clive has also been a vocal supporter of the will writing community and championed the industry against those who might consider it to be a "second class industry."
He also reflects on 20+ years in the profession, recounting his own initiation ("the training was 2 hours before I went on my first appointment") and the progress made. He is a supporter of greater regulation, but pointedly makes the distinction between regulation and reserved activities.
"(the definition of) reserved activities is a joke, there's no other words to describe. A solicitor can be drafting a lifetime trust on a Friday, join Tesco's, same skills, but cannot draft that trust on a Monday morning. That defies logic."
Ever an advocate of technology, and evangelical of the impact it has had on his business, asked what the private client community can do today that will change their business and improve their service to clients, he offers two pieces of advice.
"Get rid of paper, and take on digital... manage clients and risk more effectively.... The solutions clients of today want are different from the client of 50 years ago."
Listen in to hear more of this interesting discussion with one of the will writing community's most well known individuals.
The Today's Wills and Probate podcast is available on your preferred podcast provider, and at www.todayswillsandprobate.co.uk. Subscribe today to hear all the latest news and views across the wills and probate sector.